Atheism, Christianity Plead Cases

Hundreds of cars began streaming into the parking lot of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington two hours before showtime Sunday night.

Inside, dozens of men in suits spoke into microphones attached to their sleeves, controlling crowd movement in the elaborate complex, which covers hundreds of thousands of square feet.

No, the president wasn't in town. Nor was a popular performer making an appearance.

The draw for the more than 6,000 people who came to the church was a formal argument-dubbed "The Great Debate"-between a prominent atheist and an equally prominent religious scholar.

Their topic: Whether God exists.

Entitled "Atheism vs. Christianity: Where Does the Evidence Point," the forum pitted Frank R. Zindler, a spokesman for American Atheists Inc., against Christian philosopher William Lane Craig.

The debate was structured like a court case. Each side presented 20-minute opening statements, followed by rebuttals.

And the audience members, who were supposed to act as jurors by voting on who gave the more compelling argument, were cautioned to refrain from emotional outbursts during the two-hour presentation.

In the end, the combination of a church setting and a large turnout of committed Christians may have meant more than any argument. The audience voted overwhelmingly for the existence of God, 6,011 to 157.

Most of those attending were clearly already committed to Christianity or atheism, although a handful of spiritually confused people were also in attendance.

Whatever their beliefs, they filled the 5,000-seat church auditorium and five other large rooms that were equipped with video monitors.

They sat quietly, listening carefully to the arguments, hoping they'd learn a few tips about debating the subject in their own circles.

"I'm a born-again Christian and I work with people who are atheists and they ask me questions," said Bob Buchanan, 30, of Park Ridge. "I need answers."

Non-believers and fence-sitters were there because they were nudged by Christian friends, or because they were intellectually interested.

"It's faith-based," said Wendell Harry, 25, of Dallas, who was in South Barrington visiting friends. "I don't think anyone here is going to be convinced.

"But it's an intellectual exercise and I like to hear the attempts."

Keith Smith, 27, of McHenry, who attends Willow Creek church, said the event will have served its purpose if just one atheist or agnostic is swayed by Christianity.

"I'm enthused about this," he said. "This gives the atheists a chance to say his thing in a non-threatening environment."

Each speaker talked about the plausibility of everything from the resurrection of Jesus to the Big Bang theory, using principles of theology, philosophy and biology to support their claims.

To Craig, who holds two doctorates and currently is a visiting professor in Belgium, the issue boiled down to this: "There's no good evidence that atheism is true but there is good evidence that Christianity is true," he said.

The challenge for atheists is to prove that God doesn't exist, and no one has ever done that, he said.

"Atheism is a condition of being without a belief in God," he said. "As such, it asserts nothing and need defend nothing."

The idea for the debate originated with Lee Strobel, communications director at Willow Creek, an interdenominational Christian church that draws thousands of young parishioners to three weekend services that are delivered with more flamboyance than most traditional services.

Strobel approached noted atheist Robert I. Sherman of Buffalo Grove with the idea for the debate several months ago.

"A lot of people are spiritually confused," said Strobel, adding that he used to be an atheist. "Our goal all along has been to bring people in. We wanted to expose them to the evidence."

Sherman loved the idea.

"There have been similar debates, but not of this scope drawing this much notoriety," Strobel said.